Monday, 2 February 2015

Ancillary Text Research 2

Following my research into the conventions and successes of album covers from a broader musical spectrum, I decided to look more into album art within the psychedelic genre.

A colour image of the Beatles, holding marching band instruments and wearing colourful uniforms, stand near a grave covered with flowers that spell "Beatles". Standing behind the band are several dozen famous people.One of my favourite psychedelic album covers is "K" by the 90's Indian-influenced psych band Kula Shaker. The cover art is designed by comic-book artist Dave Gibbons. It features a generic bright psychedelic colour scheme which is a common feature of psych albums and is therefore something i may use in my own design. The main feature of the album is an image of the Hindu god Krishna; which reflects the Indian musical influence on the sound of the album which is a technique I have discovered in my previous research of album art from a wider musical spectrum. However I think the most interesting aspect of this design is the characters in blue. All these characters are people or things that's name begin with K; such as Lord Kitchener, Martin Luther King, a Knight and Karl Marx. This is very interesting as a design and as an example of a post modern text as it continues numerous inter textual references to each character; especially so with characters from other media texts such as the film "King Kong". It can also be seen as a pastiche of or reference to the classic Beatles album cover for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which is a classic 60's psych album which may have influenced the music of this album. The cover art of the Beatles album; by pop artists Peter Blake and John Haworth features a collage of life sized cardboard cut-outs of various famous people. I think this was purposely referenced by Gibbon's when he created the artwork for "K" and is an idea that I could use myself; pastiching a classic psych album's artwork.   
Another psychedelic album that I like the artwork of is Tame Impala'a own first album "Innerspeaker". This album cover; designed by Leif Podhajsky, is originally a picture of the Great Smoky Mountain Range National Park in North Carolina. This image has been digitally edited to create a "Droste Effect" to make it appear as if the picture infinitely continues into itself, which creates a very psychedelic image. This theme of trippy scenery and nature is a common theme in psychedelic art and is therefore something I should consider including in my own design. The psychedelic artwork on the cover also  reflects the psychedelic nature of the music to the audience; which is an important factor of it's success. Another interesting feature is that this use of the Droste Effect has been used in Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma" album; an album from when Pink Floyd were bridging across from Psychedelic to Progressive Rock; again showing a use of possible pastiche and intertextual referencing, which is beginning to become a theme I have discovered in psychedelic album art. 

The last design that I find interesting is that of Allah Las's self titled debut album. I think this is an interesting design because it is a simple but iconic drawing rather than a series of graphics or an interesting photo like most album art within the genre. I also think this is a successful design because it reflects the simple form of the bands music compared to their contemporary's within the genre. But I think the main reason I like this design is that like my favourite designs from my previous research; it has only really got one main focus and that is the picture of the woman holding the sea shell to her ear. I believe this one single image makes the design as a whole stand out more rather than a more complex design with a number of graphics and is therefore something I will most likely use in my own design.     


No comments:

Post a Comment